Hypocrisy on the Right

Here's a bit from a posting by Brad DeLong:

Arthur Delaney:

Jobs Bill Bombs In Senate, 45-52: Deficit concerns trumped jobless aid in the Senate Wednesday as a key vote on a bill to reauthorize several expired programs, including extended unemployment benefits, failed 45-52, with 12 Democrats voting against it. "I've said all along that we have to be able to pay for what we're spending," said Sen. Ben Nelson, a Nebraska Democrat who voted against the bill. "$77 billion or more of this is not paid for and that translates into deficit spending and adding to the debt, and the American people are right: We've got to stop doing that."

But back in 2001:

Nelson played a vital role in passing the 2001 tax cut... [as] one of a handful of centrist senators that helped craft the proposal to cut taxes by $1.3 trillion that was ultimately signed into law...

Budget arsonists shouldn't be allowed to claim that they are budget firemen.

The sad fact is that the ordinary person doesn't have the time or the intelligence to follow all the balls kept in the air by the cynical Republicans. They are very good at "their message" but awful at showing any decency or concern for ordinary Americans. They are sleazy politicians who have sold their souls to the ultra-rich to push their agenda. Sadly, most people don't realize how they are played for saps by these master of message manipulation and PR.

I enjoy Brad DeLong's web site, but I admit that I don't have the time or the intelligence to follow the politics as closely as he does. Many times I read a posting and don't really understand because I'm not acquainted with the actors or their sleazy backgrounds. I'm impressed by Brad DeLong. His day job is a professor of economics at UC Berkeley. He produces a blog with an incredible volume of postings. But I'm not smart enough to appreciate more than about half of them. In some cases I don't have the economics. But in many cases I just don't follow the politics as closely as he does.

So what does this mean? The poor American voter hardly stands a chance. The political manipulators on the Right are masters of "bait and switch". They love to play "motherhood and apple pie" while selling ersatz goods and selling out their fellow citizens. The Republicans are especially good at wrapping themselves in a flag and taking on a "holier than thou" attitude. Samuel Johnson got it right: Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel (look at the patriotism page).